In the NHS, patient experience is about how a patient, their family, and carers feel about the process of receiving care. It's one of three key components of quality, along with clinical excellence and patient safety.
On this page, you’ll find lots of support, information and resources that will help you and your team navigating patient experience, from collecting Friends & Family test responses, right through to using patient stories to build and develop your service.
Useful links
Envoy Welcome to Envoy Messenger
FFT Email: friendsandfamilytest
PX email: Patient
Here at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, we want to ensure people have the best possible experience with us.
The Friends and Family Test (FFT) is a national requirement from NHSE and asks the people in our services, as well as their family and carers about their experience.
Anyone who accesses our services has the opportunity to complete the FFT and share their experience of care. Feedback is extremely valuable, as it tells us how we are doing and helps us to improve our services and provide better outcomes. All feedback submitted is anonymous.
We collect feedback using a trusted platform called Envoy and this can be accessed by clicking here: Link to envoy
If you need further support, please email the team who will be happy to help - friendsandfamilytest
Training sessions are available on MS Teams online and bookable via prospectus section four: continuous professional development.
What are patient stories?
Patient stories are narratives shared by individuals about their experiences within healthcare services. These stories, whether positive or negative, are a valuable tool for understanding the patient perspective and identifying areas for improvement within the NHS. They offer a detailed and personal account of a patient's journey, allowing healthcare professionals to better empathise with patients and focus on what truly matters to them.
Where to use stories?
Stories can be used in a varied range of functions, from team meetings, right through to internal and external conferences. With Patient experience, we submit 6 patient stories to the Trust Board. Stories can be shared over a range of different mediums – videos, written testimonials, interviews.
If you need support with a patient story – please contact us - Patient
What are champions? text: Champions in the NHS are individuals, often staff members or volunteers, who champion the needs and perspectives of patients and the public within healthcare settings. They play a crucial role in ensuring that patient voices are heard and considered in decision-making processes related to healthcare delivery and improvement.
Champions are individuals who dedicate themselves to promoting specific areas of health and wellbeing for all patients, often in addition to their regular roles. They act as advocates, raising awareness, signposting resources, and fostering a supportive environment.
Contact us - Patient
If your team uses paper copies to complete the FFT, please download an updated copy. All paper copies should be sent to: Friends and Family Test, Knowsley Centre for Independent Living (CIL), Unit 11, Brickfields, Huyton L36 6HY (please ensure you budget code is visible).
If your team has added extra questions, please contact friendsandfamilytest
- Paper copy
- FFT step by step guide July 2024
- Blank poster template to add your QR code to - please contact the Communications Team to create a poster.
How to guides
If you are experiencing any issues, please contact friendsandfamilytest
Alternatively, there are some FAQs below which may be able to help.
Q: I used to have access to the envoy system, but now it’s not letting me log on.
A: Please email the FFT team and we can log a ticket with envoy to investigate this.
Q: How do I use the system and pull my teams information off?
A: the FFT team run a range of training sessions each month via MS Teams. You can book your place in the prospectus in section 4.
Q: When I log in, my team doesn’t show using the team budget code.
A: It’s more than likely you are using the old system. We recently merged all teams onto the new system using the definitive teams list, separated into the correct divisions. If your team isn’t showing anything with your budget code, please email the FFT team and we can run a search.
Q: My team envoy page isn’t showing any information.
A: This is probably because no data has been entered. Your team will be there, but just hidden in the background. Please email the FFT team with your budget code who can check this for you.
Q: Where do I find my teams budget code?
A: This is your budget code set by Mersey Care, it’s what is on the definitive teams list, you may know this as your cost code Please link with your manager or ops lead, who should have this.
Q: We’ve sent off lots of paper copies, but they aren’t showing on the system.
A: It can take up to 6 weeks for paper versions to show on the system as it’s the envoy team who input these. Please note: your teams budget code needs to be visible for the envoy team to input this against your teams FFT. Due to GDPR, envoy does not keep copies of submissions for anything later than one month.
Q: Where do we send completed paper copies to?
A: Friends and Family Test, Knowsley Centre for Independent Living (CIL), Unit 11, Brickfields, Huyton L36 6HY.
Q: I need access to the old FFT system to get some data for the QRV team. How do I do this?
A: Please email the FFT team who can pull this information as access to the old system is now limited.
Q: We’re thinking about adding more questions to our FFT page. How do we go about this?
A: Please contact the FFT team, and we can help you with setting the format of questions.